kiss
by finish line
Summary: Sasuke/Sakura. AU. OOC. A thing worse than a boy who hates you is a boy who loves you. "If I am able to run a lap around this ground for three minutes and fifty seconds," started the Uchiha, "I would get a kiss from you."


_A thing worse than a boy who hates you is a boy who loves you._

**authored by **finish line

**» Let us start this story with these ingredients «  
**A petite pink-haired girl with wide forehead;  
an arrogant boy with a mop of spiky and black hair settling perfectly on his head.

I first saw the boy when I had just kissed the last of the souls of his family. His eyes were wide with alarm, I remember. Pools of molten onyx dulled with caged tears, and pinkish-white skin paled deeper and deeper. He looked so... _pitiable_.

His name is Uchiha Sasuke. And he is the boy I have always pitied all this time.

**» There was a girl «  
**That girl was another kid that I have always felt... deep sympathy for.

Pink hair spread across the asphalt-covered road, wet with plummeting raindrops. Her eyes were wide with alarm, just like that boy. I pity her for the following reasons.

**» Reasons to pity the girl «  
**1. She has always been bullied  
2. She has no friends

Her being bullied was the first that I saw of her.

Her name is Haruno Sakura. And like Uchiha Sasuke, she looked so... _pitiable_.

**» Here are the ironies of all «  
**Two pitiful souls met. First, they had no idea they would be friends.  
Second, they had no idea they would be the best of friends.  
Third, they had no idea that they would be partners in _everything_.  
Lastly, they had no idea that years later, I would kiss one of them so soon.

They met that day when kids so young and of Sakura's age bullied her – that day when I first saw that pitiful girl. Like a knight in shining armour, Uchiha Sasuke went in between the girl and the bullies, hugging the girl, and collecting the hits, pains, and cries that were not meant for him.

He was simply an armour and not a knight – let me correct myself. He did not fight. He merely defended. And that was what she likes about him.

The tears ended when the bullies left them, spitting on the ground next to their lying and tangled bodies. They remained tangled until the girl spoke up.

"Thank you."

Sasuke unlatched himself and lay on his back beside the girl. He closed his eyes and felt the drops of water graze his skin.

"You're welcome."

It had _almost_ been unheard by Haruno Sakura. For seemingly the first time in her twelve years on life, she let her lips lift up at the corners. A ghost of a smile.

**» There was this one time «  
**When they were by the school grounds.

"If I am able to run a lap around this ground for three minutes and fifty seconds," started the Uchiha, "I would get a kiss from you."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and laughed. She looked around the school ground and probably thought for a while '_He's crazy; it's impossible to do so for such a short span of time_'.

"And if you ran over three minutes and fifty seconds – even just a second – you will treat me to ice cream," said Sakura, folding her arms across her chest. "So... deal?"

Sasuke shrugged then smirked. "Deal."

Then he ran. Ran. Ran.

It surprised Sakura how he was able to finish the lap within the allotted time. It surprised the girl how quick the long legs of Sasuke could be. It surprised her how Sasuke merely stopped in front of her after the lap, and smirked.

"Where's my kiss?"

Sakura could only laugh as she ran away, leaving a dissatisfied Uchiha behind.

**» One thing Sakura did not know and will never know «  
**Uchiha Sasuke practised running around the ground for weeks to get three minutes and fifty seconds exactly, just for her.

They were thirteen that time. She got sick. I thought I could already pick her up, but that day was not the perfect time.

At least, that was what I wanted to believe: because I did not want to.

There was a knock on the door of the Haruno residence. A beautiful woman with red hair jerked it open and was utterly surprised to see a hooded Uchiha Sasuke leaning on the adjacent wall. He stood up straight and bowed down in respect.

"Is Sakura all right?"

"Much better, dear," said the woman. She smiled and continued, "Would you like to go in and see her for yourself?"

The Uchiha shook his head no. He bowed again and turned around to leave. He was hoping he would get the kiss. He stopped from walking, turned around, and got the attention of the Haruno matriarch before she could even close the door.

"Haruno-san?" he called out.

The woman peeked at the boy and asked, "Yes, dear? What is it?"

"Don't tell her I visited."

The woman grinned. You might think she grinned because she thought it was so cute – it was too sweet. You are mistaken. She grinned because of the mischief forming in her head.

"Sure."

What Uchiha Sasuke did not know was that the woman who swore not to tell Sakura actually spilled everything. It surprised him that he received a thank you letter from the pink-headed girl – a letter sealed with a kiss – days later.

A kiss on the envelope, however. He had to be satisfied with even just that.

**» Sakura loves tennis even though she cannot play satisfactorily. «  
**She is a big fan of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.  
When Sasuke told her he, too, could see the greatness of the two athletes, Sakura was more than ecstatic.

"You're tired," Sakura pointed out, handing him a jag of water.

He tipped the jag and let himself swallow lots of the liquid, looking at the girl from the corners of his eyes. He later said, "How would you know?"

"I just know it."

"I'm not tired," defended Sasuke, handing back the jag to Sakura. He watched her closely. Sakura did not know that there was something highly foolish going on inside her best friend's head.

"OK. If you say so." Deep inside, she knew he was really tired.

Jolly green eyes watched every victory Uchiha Sasuke had won that day in the selection for the regular players of their junior high school tennis team. On his last game – against the resident genius and team captain – he did not show up.

Minutes later, he did not show up.

He did not show up again.

Clutching the fence tightly, she waited and waited until a boy with sun-kissed hair approach her and said, "That bastard is already disqualified, Sakura-chan."

Sakura could only wonder why Sasuke did not show up. Perhaps it was because he had showed off enough to Sakura? Perhaps because playing against the captain would be pointless, seeing that he was already qualified for the first line-up? Besides, the reason he was supposed to play against the captain was for further analysing of his abilities. Perhaps it was because he was afraid he would lose?

Or perhaps because... he was neither Nadal nor Federer.

"I did it on purpose."

Sakura and Sasuke stopped from walking home. The girl halted in front of him almost too immediately, making him jump a little.

"You did _what_?" Sakura hissed in disbelief. "But why?"

"It's a secret I can never share."

**» There was something bugging Sakura «  
**Minutes before they reach home, Sasuke handed her his new regular's jersey.  
He did not get it back when she reached her house.

Immediately, Sakura walked across the street to the apartment where Uchiha Sasuke lived alone. She knocked twice, and, instantly, the door jerked open.

"You left this," she said, lifting up the paper bag that contained his new jersey and team uniform. "You need this for team practise –"

"I would not need that."

And with that, he closed the door. Sakura shrugged in indifference, wondering. Why did he forfeit in the ability-testing game? Lastly, why did he not get his new uniform back?

He was foolish, Haruno Sakura concluded.

**» Sakura did not notice «  
**...that he had not asked for the kiss again.  
...that she was wishing for him to ask for his awaited kiss.  
...that he had been in love with her since that first day.  
...that she was then in love with him.  
...that she had _always_ been in love with him.  
...that she had been the reason why Uchiha Sasuke's long list of "Why He Is Pitiful" lengthened.

That day I had kissed Uchiha Sasuke's soul, Sakura cried and cried and cried. No one could calm her down. Sixteen years of age, Sakura showed how frail she was. And I am so sorry about that.

I had to.

Perhaps Uchiha Sasuke would be smiling, smirking, or whatnot if he saw how Sakura had kissed his frozen and blue lips – the kiss he had waited for such a long time. Perhaps his sad, black eyes would dull even more had he seen how Sakura's tears played on his cold cheeks.

I am sorry he has not witnessed those.

The neighbourhood found him floating on the cold and freezing lake. He was not breathing. It was because I kissed him first before Sakura could do so. I took his soul in my arms, muttering, "I'm sorry" for so many times.

In his clenched hands was a pink, flimsy piece of paper, soaked wet and almost torn apart, had it not been protected by his stone-hard fists.

In his clenched hands was a pink, flimsy piece of paper that sported the big and simple words of, "_Thank you, Sasuke-kun_."

**» At least, he could be happy «  
**His family would be with him.

There were many things Sakura had not known about Uchiha Sasuke. She was told that his family was in a country not theirs. She was told that he decided to be left behind. But she was not told that he was all alone in the world.

There were many things Sakura had not known about Uchiha Sasuke. She was told she was annoying. But she was never told that she was so special to him.

There were many things Sakura had not known about Uchiha Sasuke. The jersey he did not get back was a token of gratitude to her – for being with him all those times. He did not show up at his last game because she was right – he was _tired_.

And those things included how he was afraid that she would kiss her – because for a very long time, he had been scared that this _time_ would come: him leaving her.

**» By the way «  
**My name is Death.  
And that was a story I witnessed which proved to me that...  
if I hesitated to take both kids in my arms once,  
then... I have a heart.

See? Even death can have a heart.

**authored by **finish line

**a/n: **Credits go to the author of the book, "_The Book Thief_", Markus Zusak. I disclaim the plot for it is totally akin to the story of Leisel Meminger and Rudy Steiner of said book; and I disclaim the characters, for Masashi Kishimoto owned them. **The only things I owned are my own words.** I also just made up the whole analysing-game thing. :D The credit to the saying above – _A thing worse than a boy who hates you is a boy who loves you _– goes to Markus Zusak.


End file.
